Dawn of Time

Round 6: January 2013 (Winter)

Jeff Reid is 61 and Helen is 59

(Paul Reid is 22 and Michelle Reid and Fidel Chessum are 20)

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Narrated by Jeff

Paul is almost all settled into his new apartment with his roommates so he invited me and Helen over to check their place out.

It’s not a place I’d ever move into, especially on this side of town. But Paul likes it and it actually suits him.

He was telling us that their rent wasn't too bad when they signed the lease but their landlord recently amended it and they’re paying less. Turns out that one of Paul’s friends from college also rents an apartment from their landlord so they got a discount.

Every little bit of savings will help them. We have a trust set up for the kids but they won’t get it until they turn 25. It’s not enough to buy a house but it’s definitely enough to get them started.

He still hasn’t had any luck finding a steady paying job yet but he’s not stressing about it. He’s just “going with the flow.” They have food in the fridge and the essentials they need for the apartment, so he’s not worried about the rest. So if he’s not going to worry about it, I won’t either.

Michelle and Michael were over the following day for brunch. They’re on their winter break right now and will be starting classes again next week.

Michelle is very excited to start the next semester because she gets to start student teaching.

She’ll be student teaching at the primary school under Helen’s direction, so she’ll have an advantage that most student teachers won’t.

I don’t think she’ll like every aspect of working with her mother, though. Helen does tend to force her opinion on how things should be done, especially when it comes to teaching, and I don't know if Michelle is prepared to deal with that at work.

Michelle finally decided to bring her boyfriend Fidel over to meet us. They’ve been dating for well over a year now and we’ve been wondering when she’d introduce him to us. She claims that she wanted to see where their relationship was going before bringing him over.

He’s a nice boy, I guess. She hasn't had many boyfriends that I know of but I think he's a major improvement over the last one she had.

Fidel is very goal oriented, which I like. He’s planning on getting into law enforcement when he graduates. 

Although things have been a lot quieter this year, I do have a little bone to pick with our police department with all the robberies we’ve had over the years. I hope he’s up for a challenge.

We have different opinions on capital punishment but he was willing to hear me out on what I think should be done to those criminals. Fidel's really passionate about the issue, which is a great trait to have in that line of work.

You can really tell that he's into Michelle. The way he talks to her and the way he watches her when she leaves or enters the room is very telling. 

And he seemed to genuinely want to get to know us. I think he mentioned that he's really big on family so it would make sense that he'd try his hardest to be friendly with Michelle's.

I think Michelle chose a good guy this time and I think she knows it. She seems really happy.

My birthday was last Saturday and Helen had a wonderful day planned for me.

First we went to the theatre downtown and saw the play Romeo and Juliet. We really enjoyed it.

Afterward, we had a nice, quiet, and delicious dinner at Giovanni’s.

And we ended the evening in Sim Towers. It wasn’t really necessary to spend the night in a hotel since we have an empty house but it was a change of scenery and was nice to spend an evening away from home having other people serving us.

And I was with Helen and that’s all that mattered. It was a really great birthday.

Notes:

-One of Paul’s “conquests” from his early college days called and said that she was going to tell their landlord to give them a discount on their rent. Paul appreciates it but he still isn't thinking about you, Lexie!
-Jeff and Helen had enough money to give each of their kids about $45,000 in their savings and still have plenty of money left over in their funds. So I copied the idea of a trust fund from Carla and they'll gain access to it when they turn 25.

-I almost didn't realize that Michelle is a junior at UCC and should be starting her student teaching this year. I’m glad I’ll be playing the primary school this round because I want to see her in action.
-Speaking of Michelle, she and Fidel are still going strong. They still roll wants for each other and they are always kissing and fooling around autonomously. They're not even a high bolt couple. I think maybe 1 bolt, possibly 2. I have to check again.

-The hotel Helen and Jeff were in was made by Dee in response to my request. I didn't have any functional hotels in my hood other than in the vacation areas, so I asked the N99ers to help me out with that. Dee made another one here and Starr from Apple Valley made one, too, and I hope to find reasons to use them both soon!

-Taxes: I was going to talk a little bit about tax collecting in this update since Jeff announced that 2013 would be the first tax collecting year, but too much other stuff was happening. But I used Laurel Crossing's tax form and the town collected a total of $68,644. I have no idea if that's high or low for my size hood. The only family that got a refund though was Kyle and Alicia because they have no assets and they have the twins.